Dirty Smiles

I have had the joy in recent weeks to work with Roma kids at a literacy program in Sofia. My friend, Terry, started the program three years ago and it is proving to have great success. The Roma peoples make up 8-10% of Bulgaria’s population and are a suffering minority. Few Roma children attend school regularly. Their parents remain uneducated and do not motivate them to learn. The reasons for this are many but I will not dwell here for this is not my reason for writing today.

One of the girls who attends literacy each week is fifteen years old. She asked me yesterday, “Mrs., what is five minus five?” I was aghast by her lack of skill in problem-solving. Gina was working on a color by numbers page that required her to calculate certain problems to discern the answer and thus the appropriate color for that part of the picture. I showed her what five minus five is by using pencils as a visual example. She seemed to grasp the concept and quickly shaded in the correct color. To my surprise, three minutes later she asked, “What’s six minus zero?” Again, I was taken aback by the utter lack of understanding and education provided this young, beautiful girl. 

I cannot say Gina knows nothing. This is untrue. She has probably seen more life than I will ever see. She sometimes attends lessons with a 2-year-old child/relative in tow to whom she shows great skill in the care she gives. Hygiene and basic trust have been lost on this developing young lady, but she knows how to survive in a world with no education, no attention, and few of life’s luxuries. When I say luxuries, I do not mean getting to eat at McDonald’s or hopping in a car to go see a movie with a friend. The luxuries I am talking about are having running water, a toothbrush, a fresh change of clothes and of course, an education.

The words in my heart are difficult to share beyond this point. The need is so great that meeting it seems unattainable. If we speak honestly, we know that it is. But that does not negate the beautiful smiles through rotting teeth and dirty clothes that I see when I teach and play with them. Bringing joy to the “least of these” is never unattainable. 

Laura